Juhu Beach and ISKCON Juhu

As a coastal city, Mumbai has many beaches along its western coast.. Juhu Beach is one of the famous beaches of Mumbai for its street food(check my post on stalls at Juhu beach here) as well as popular Italian restaurants. On the southern end of Juhu beach are many luxury hotels and apartments. This beach is also popular for watching aircraft as planes from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport usually takeoff directly over the beach towards sea.

Reliance Digital - My Experience

It was the day before one of the Indimeets in Andheri, that i received the email about Reliance Digital Experience from Inditeam. So i thought of combining my Reliance visit with the meet.. But later the schedule for the store got cancelled and the team asked us to re-register... This time I opted for Mulund store on 22nd June, as this was the nearest for me in the store list...

The Reliance Digital store at R-Mall, Mulund

By the time i reached the store it was quarter to 8PM, the timings on the Indi invite was 11AM - 8PM, was wondering if I would be entertained. The person at the entrance, welcomed me. The lady incharge of the blogger's campaign was not to be seen anywhere and he guided me to another lady Ms. Swati... She collected the print out of the invite and asked me to have a tour of the store.

My daughter busy watching 3D movie

Camera Section

As a homemaker my favorite kitchen gadget, food processor

My daughter had accompanied me and I was wondering how to keep her engaged, to have a peaceful tour. The store didn't disappoint me and i left her with a pair of 3D glasses at the Smart TV  section... She seemed to enjoy to the core.. She was indeed reacting to the actions on the TV, trying to catch hold of the cookie heading her on the TV.. And i headed to the camera section, off course my crave to own a DSLR camera pulled me there... The sales person at the counter very well explained me with the features of all the models they had... Dreaming to own one in near future, i headed to the home appliance section, which was next to the camera one... 

Harman Kardon

Few months back I had attended one of their sessions on baking and cooking at the Reliance store near my place, when my MIL upgraded her microwave oven. So had an idea of their collection. What if you don't have a plan of upgrading your present home or kitchen appliances, you can always present it to a newly wedded couple or on any of the ceremonies... And worry not, you need not carry the huge stuff to the venue, all you need is the Reliance Digital Gift card and the person can shop anything of their interests from their nearest Reliance Digital store... I clicked few pics of the appliances, meanwhile, frequently being  reminded by one or the other sales person, for not clicking photographs and i repeatedly informed them, it was for blogger campaign.

Digital Photo Frames

By then my daughter got bored of the repeat video and we both had a tour of the Smart TV section. Gone are those days when TV used to be a big fat gadget sitting at a corner of the drawing room, its time for slim and ultra slim screens. Just like any other electronic gadget, these see a very frequent upgrades... Your model gets outdated just in few months.. Here at Reliance digital, they had a huge collection, with a wide range of specifications and prizes, which gives you an ease in selecting the one which would fit both your drawing room and pocket.. The next thing which attracted both me and my daughter was the Harman Kardon home theater and the Digital Photo Frames.. Harman Kardon, has always been my favorites when it comes to Home Theater.. You can experience them at the Home Theater Engagement Zone, which gives you a very fare idea of how well you can experience at your own place...

Then i left my daughter at the Playstation section and i headed to Laptops. My laptop badly needs a upgrade at present... I did some R&D on laptops and desktops and promised myself of heading back soon for a laptop and a printer.. Meanwhile my hubby arrived to pick us up, and he headed to his section of interest, and both dad and daughter got busy.. 

And I headed to Smart Phones and Featured Phones section... My recent win of a Samsung Galaxy Tab in one of the Indi contests pulled me there... Had a quick glance of all the mobiles, tabs and iphones and headed to the personal grooming section, which included hair driers and other hair styling gadgets, yes off course the all time favorites of women folk... 

This is what i can say about THE RELIANCE DIGITAL after this great tour, while the sales and billing teams, mPOS and easy EMI options help you and your pocket to shop with ease, the ResQ Care Plan, CRM(Customer Relationship Management) department and service team provide you with a great after-sales service... Search right away for the Reliance Digital Store near your place and plan a visit.

Dhamma Giri- A Photo Essay

Continued from here

Dhamma Giri, came to us as a big surprise. I was browsing for a day's trip from Mumbai, and came across Dhamma Giri meditation center in Igatpuri. We had been to Buddhist Monastry in Madikeri and felt this would be something similar. But instead this is a meditation center and nothing to do with any religious practices.
Dhamma giri is one of the World's largest meditation centers, dedicated to the teaching of Vipassana Meditation as taught my S.N Goenka. You can find more information on the center and meditation courses on their site http://www.giri.dhamma.org/..

A Day Trip to Vihigaon and Igatpuri

My hubby gets alternate half and full offs on Saturdays.  Last Saturday being a off for him, we planned for a day's trip to Vihigaon and Igatpuri, as we had other priorities for Sunday...

Igatpuri is a hill station in Nasik Dist of Maharashtra state. With the arrival of monsoon, this is the perfect time to visit this place... Our plan was to start with Vihigaon Waterfall, then Igatpuri and if time permitted wanted to cover Bhandardara.
We started at 9, took NH-3 Mumbai Agra road, the drive through this route was awesome with lush greens on both sides. We stopped at Vithal Kamath near Asangaon for breakfast..

Wednesday Bazaar 10 - Vintage Toy Shop

For this week's Wednesday Bazaar is this vintage toy shop from Dragon Mart, Dubai..

Wednesday Bazaar is a series where I post pictures of Bazaar or markets from around the world.. Check more Bazaars here.

Linked to ABC Wednesday(W for Wheels)

A Magical Show by Mickey and his Friends

Last two weeks have been wonderful for us, two Indiblogger meets Connected Hum Tum and Xtreme Drive and then a musical evening, Disney Magic with Mickey and friends. It was one of the contests on F/B which won me a pass for two for this musical show. The show was in Oberoi Mall, Goregaon..

Just like for any other event, i had to leave home early with my daughter.. We were to travel by bus till the venue, where my hubby was suppose to join us. Ours was 8PM show, somehow we managed to reach on time as we were asked to report 45 mins prior the start of the show. A grand stage was ready at the atrium. Checked at the counter for the passes, but were informed they were sold out.. Then the person guided us to another counter, when we told him that we were F/B winners.

Wednesday Bazaar 9 - Juhu Beach

Indian beaches are floated with stalls. The variety of eatables you find on beach side stalls is difficult to find in regular markets sometimes, my favorite one is the Butta(corn) shop...... For this weeks Wednesday Bazaar are these stalls from Juhu Beach..

Stall with star fruit, tamarind, masala imli(tamarind with spices), groundnut, Jamun(Indian blackberry), mangoes

An Extremely Thrilled Evening with TATA Safari Strome!!!!!!!!

What would be your first thought looking at this SUV???

BIG STYLE, SEXY, love to drive!!!

Haji Ali Dargah

The Haji Ali Dargah is a Mosque and tomb built on a tiny island located 500mtrs from coast, in the middle of Worli Bay. The accessibility to the dargah is very much dependent on the tides. As, the causeway is not bound by railings, when the causeway gets submerged during high tides it becomes inaccessible. The walk on the causeway, with the sea on both sides, is one of the highlights of the trip to the shrine.

This was constructed in 1431 in memory of wealthy muslim merchant Sayyed Peer Haji Ali Shah Bukhari.. More about this place here.

Linked to Skywatch Friday.

Wednesday Bazaar 8 - Flower Shops

A walk through Matunga, takes me to my native, those flower shops, the Mysore Silk Saree showrooms, our own Udupi Shri Krishna hotel and Mysore cafe... A perfect place to spend an evening for a south Indian like me...
For this week's Wednesday Bazaar are these flower shops from Matunga,

A visit to Sanjay Gandhi National Park

We frequently visit SGNP, but we head straight to the Jain temple in the National Park and we are back.. But with my daughters vacation last month, we played a visit for her. After long long time we were going in that toy train, which we used to enjoy as kids. A visit to the park needs at least half a day to explore.

The park notified in 1974, lies on the northern fringes of Mumbai covering an area of 104sq km. It is one of Asia’s most visited National Parks with 2 million annual visitors and claims to be the largest park in the world located within city limits.

Main entrance to the National Park

A Connected Evening Indi, Hum Tum and Me

Wow, that was my first Indiblogger Meet and i was all excited... The meet was Zee TV Sponsored for the launch of Connected Hum Tum series which starts from 3rd of June. 

The meet was suppose to be at 7pm at The Leela.. I left home with my daughter at 5, as i had to drop her at my hubby's office at Sakinaka, which is just a few miles from the venue.. Anyways my hubby agreed to drop me to the venue at nth moment. I entered the venue and found few groups of bloggers. As this was my first meet, i didn't have anybody whom i knew.. I was all alone, looking for a lone blogger to whom i could speak to. Then came Upanasa and Nikitha, and i joined them... The Registration started by around 7:15, followed by few games, which were real fun.. Then was 50 secs of fame, where few blogger were selected in random to introduce themselves. Meanwhile there were few tweet contests. Then was THE twist in the event, all six contestants of  Connected Hum Tum were settled amongst the bloggers and the challenge was to recognize and get our pic clicked with them. The first one to finish all six was supposed to be awarded with Nokia Lumia... I ran in search of them, got all six and ran back to the host... Then came another girl with her finished pics, they declared it to be a tie and asked us to go for an arm wrestling to break the tie. I was defeated in no time, and that's how i lost that Nokia Lumia. 

Then, the stage was over to the Hum Tum team, intro of all the contestants, promos of the series, an interactive session with the team.

The show is all about six courageous women of different ages and on the brink exciting crossroads in their lives, who will put their innermost hoes, fears, insecurities, mistakes, triumphs, joys and sorrow out there for the world to see... These participants take hand held HD cameras and record themselves in their own houses, capturing all that they say and do in their most personal space. They will shoot themselves as they go to work, step out to shop or attend class.
I started my blog when i was in search of a platform to share my views and my feelings, but still its not that i blog about each and every thing. There are certain things which i would like to keep it for myself and so are called personal things. Capturing all that you say and do in your most personal space really needs courage.
Each one of them in the show is leading a different life from one another, a brand manager,  a dentist, a RJ, a corporate producer, a struggling actress, a theater producer... Connected Hum Tum, is where we connect our lives with the lives of those six ladies at one or the other instances of the life. Or we are living a life which is more or less similar to them. What your turn would be when you are in that situation, that thought might help you in resolving your own personal issues. Will the show guide you to lead a better life? Am looking forward to watch the show, which will be on air Monday to Friday 10PM on Zee TV, hosted by Abhay Deol. And Contestants Pallavi Burman(30, fashionable shopaholic, brand manager), Malishka Mendonca(34, Mumbai's No. 1 radio jockey), Sonal Giani(26, activist, theatre producer),  Madhavi Mauskar(53, foreign languages expert, corporate producer), Preeti Kochar(33, dentist, belly dance instructor), Mahima Chaudhary(25, struggling actress). 

Finally the group pic and we headed home with an Indi T-shirt after a dinner.

Image Courtesy Indiblogger

That's all about that Connected Evening between Indi, Hum Tum and Me.

This post is an entry for ZeeTV "Connected Hum Tum" and Indiblogger contest.